Oh and one thing to look for on the older units if its android, the firmware I switched to vs the factory eonon firmware rocks. Much better sound and is faster and more stable running under it in my opinion. Also being able to have the digital speedometer on the home screen rocks. I like seeing the speed readout but I don't always want to run the nav part so this worked great.

Malaysk firmware is what I went with. I got it from xda-developers site.

This link shows all the aftermarket firmwares they have for the most part.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/and...re-development


Remember that these do greatly enhance the radio though you can brick/kill your radio if you do something wrong flashing it so use at your own risk (covering my butt :) )

DEWD! Without completely placing yourself at risk for doing so... Your DIY on that would be AWESOME!

Failing that, I will be running through Alabama this Winter in the X5. I *hope* to have an OctaCore in it by then. If you're willing, my trips South usually benefit from a fairly unstructured timeline. If you're in the mood to fiddle with the one I (eventually) install in the E53, I will stop in. What apart of AL is you in? :D

Im always up for a meet. I'm in Ashland which is 30 miles east of Talladega (where they have the nascar races).

Lineville is another town that borders this one which has one of the largest car shows in Alabama each year on the 1st of November. Family members show their cars in it. Something always comes up and I never get to enter. I even bought a convertible corvette basically just for stuff like that and haven't entered it yet :(


I think the newest eonon I have which is in my 323i is the quadcore one.

Really like it after installing the new firmware. Having it turn on instantly when I come back to the car after going somewhere is one of the coolest changes. Before the firmware it always took 30 seconds or a minute or something before you could really use the radio after cranking the car.

Now only the first crank of the day so to speak takes awhile. As long as I get back to the car each time within 60 minutes or so it comes back on instantly. The new firmware has a programmable sleep timer so it sleeps x amount of time before completely shutting down.

Well, you've got my attention. I was waiting for Avin's new unit to come out but the Eonon and other knock-off clones are so much cheaper I wouldn't mind giving one of them a try if they used an octa-core processor. The Avin 2 was a solid unit and I really enjoyed it, but cost was high enough that it has kept NBT in the running for my 4.8is... plus of course Avin has been working (and teasing) the Avin 3 so I was holding off doing anything about the head unit.

Looking forward to your write-up Crowz

Yep. Same sh!tty screen that really *should* be brighter to prevent (or at least contend/battle) the same terrible glare as the one I installed in January.

Buuuut the SPEED! Holy Balls! :wow: I have run through Android firmware and hardware since my very first Android phone. Maybe an LG that wasn't even dual core. I have experienced one truth to Android (and to be fair, most OSes): Android loves it some cores. And some RAM.

This thing *acts* like a radio *should*. The two units do all of the same stuff. But the old unit- even at something as basic as changing the station or (God forbid) the volume would lag to the point that you had to get used to it. Now, it wasn't ever terrible. It wasn't *unusable*. But it was FAR from a factory experience.

But this thing? Dare I say? Snappy? Yeah. Snappy. After the first time using a given function- Bluetooth pairing was slow at first, for example. WiFi seemed to take a minute while the OS 'phoned home' or whatever the first time. Bluetooth discovery and pairing was very, very slow. I've only done this once, so I do not know if that will improve.

But navigating from menu to menu. Downloading apps is faster over WiFi. So is changing not just Android OS settings, but including including radio, amp, etc. It's just a much nicer experience than it was. Before, I'd have to silently say to myself, "Well, it's a newish thing. It's made by people whose 1st instinct and last objective are the same." Make it a product that'll do the stuff. Build it, however slowly it performs, and they will buy it.

But this. This is better than that. It's no OE radio. It hangs every now and then- or just responds slowly. It's a little weird how music streaming over BlueTooth needs so much more volume than the radio. Switching from jamming on BT to radio will have you hitting the volume quickly. But at least when you turn it down, the unit reacts almost entirely in tandem with the physical input- though still delayed, even if slightly.

I can say that I am happy enough with this unit that I will be fitting at least one more. I have two E53's to choose from and an E39. My friend and I discussed today doing the '01 3.0 bc it'd be a good experience for the 4.8is. The E39 hasn't had a mod in years. And I haven't touched the sound system. All of that will change- however slowly and through whatever paths- in the coming months.

Is it worth the trouble? Did I mention the trouble? I know I did somewhere on this board that the units have different cables. That's still annoying. But, like most things, ripping apart an interior is a LOT easier the second time around. We were done in less than two hours.

I'm off to fiddle with ways to make the experience what I want: Onboard navigation with SD card maps are a wanty. I like the old radio. I don't like the digital clock. But the thing sounds great and it's such an improvement over the other one that is worth the time.